Eye surgeries and their acronyms

Present now, there are many people being annoyed with types of vision problems in the world. The most common visual defects include myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism and cataracts. These problems are affecting a large population across the world. In the United States alone, over 50 million citizens are affected. Among different solutions to these visual defects, surgery is gaining popularity. It is estimated that about 1.5 million people will resort to some kinds of eye surgeries for vision correction.

Personal visual condition determines the type of surgery

There are quite a few sorts of eye surgeries, including LASIK, LASEK, and PRK and so on. Which one should be chosen actually depends on several factors. In general, different people need different kinds of surgery. Both the severity of vision problem and medical conditions should be taken into account. There is no “best” eye surgery applicable for everyone. Never simply follow the same choice of a friend or colleague.

Do enough homework before choosing an eye surgery

Patients should have a detailed consultation with the surgeon about which surgery is suitable. A comprehensive eye exam is needed before making a decision. Although LASIK is currently the most popular one, it is not the choice for everyone. Patients need to do more homework about the knowledge of these surgeries as well as the target surgeon. Most surgeons can perform only one or certain types of eye surgeries.

Pay enough attention to surgery price

Some patients may discover that surgery price varies considerably from one surgeon to another. Well, this is a real situation. Typically speaking, non-customized LASIK for one eye charges about $1,500, whereas wavefront guided LASIK costs more than $2,000. Before choosing a particular surgery and vision center, it is necessary to know clearly the typical price. There are some surgeons and centers advertising bargain prices that are far below the average. Consulting such a surgeon or center, an advisable practice is to ask for a list of the target services included by that low price.

Acronyms of different visual refractive surgeries

Another factor should also be considered during the consultation with a surgeon or self-study of different eye surgeries. Almost all kinds of eye surgeries have their own abbreviations and acronyms. Many patients may get confused by these acronyms. Similar acronyms always do not represent the same problem. For instance, LASIK and LASEK are two different surgeries. LASIK stands for Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis and LASEK represents Laser-Assisted Sub-epithelial Keratectomy. There are other acronyms in the realm of corrective vision surgery. PRK is short for Photo Refractive Keratectomy. And ICL means Implantable Contact lenses.